“Girls stop fighting,” Jackie scolded, giving her daughters a glare. “Your brother hasn’t slept in days.”

Tyler cracked a smile from within his sleep in the rocking chair beside her bed. Three days had passed since Riley had been hospitalized, and it was the first day that he felt like he gotten a decent amount of sleep, even if he had been up for more than a half hour due to his sisters’ constant bickering.

His eyes fluttered opened, and he let out a long emitted yawn that caused his family to turn their heads and watch him.

“Good morning,” his mother cooed.

He cracked a smile, the constant beeping of the machines snapping him into reality. He had hoped that maybe catching some sleep he’d be able to wake himself of this nightmare that he was living. Every time his eyes opened he was only welcomed to the smell of sterile hallways, doctors, and beeping machines.

“Ty, she’s going to wake up. You just have to keep praying.”

He didn’t realize that the tears were free flowing down his cheeks. He swatted at them pinching the bridge of his nose with his forefinger and thumb.

Candace stood over him, rubbing his back gently.

“Thanks,” he smiled voice cracking. “Where are Chris and everybody else?”

“Freddy and Brittany went to get something to eat, and Riley’s dad went home to get some sleep and check on everyone else. He said he’d be back when you go to practice.” Cassidy piped up from the corner of the room, taking her eyes off her phone for just a split second.

Tyler nodded, pulling his own phone from the table beside him and checking the time. As the minutes slowly passed in silence, he knew that he couldn’t just sit there and watch her sleep. He’s been doing it for three days and could only take so much before he would break down. As much as he was dreading going to practice and leaving her behind, he knew that getting back on the ice would clear his mind. It was like a breath of fresh air when his skates hit the ice, everything that he was dealing with would suddenly disappear and it was just he and the puck.

“Everything okay sweetie?” Jackie asked, glancing at her son from magazine she was holding.

Of course he wanted to say no, but with held, knowing that he had done his share of crying for the day and would have to remain strong.

He grabbed a hold of Riley’s limp hand, rubbing the back of it with his thumb.

“Yeah, I think that I’m just going to head to practice a little early. Shoot some pucks around before everyone else gets there.” He said, breaking his glance from her.

For a moment he watched as his mother and two sisters all exchanged looks. They all knew that he wasn’t okay, and getting on the ice was his way of clearing his head. He did it when he broke up with his first girlfriend, when he had a tough loss, or even when they had to put their dog down.

With the silence, he stood placing a kiss atop Riley’s head listening as the heart monitors sped up for just a moment before dropping back to their normal rates again. He chuckled, a toothy grin spreading to his lips feeling a sense of pride knowing that he could make her feel this way, despite the circumstances.

“Will you guys call me if she wake up?”

His mother nodded, as he placed a kiss upon her cheek before closing the door behind him.

XXX

He took a deep breath. It had just been him, the puck, and the net for the past three hours, and practice wasn’t set to start for another forty-five minutes. He could feel the puck juggling between his stick as he raced down the ice, taking a deep breath he lined the puck up and fired it towards the back of the net as if someone was there to stop him. His eyes closed for just a moment as he balanced his stick over his shoulders imagining the thousands of fans that would’ve been cheering him on if they were there.

“Nice one Rook.”

Tyler’s eyes flickered opened catching Brad jumping onto the ice, snatching up one of the pucks he had lined up.

He laughed, rolling his eyes. “You wish you could get on my level, Shortie.”

Brad fired himself down the ice towards the net, the puck mimicking what it had done previously for Tyler, bouncing between the left and right side; he rounded the net and backhanded the puck where it landed safely in the back of the net.

“You hear that? It’s all the girls screaming my name,” Brad laughed, cupping his hand around his ear and imitating the screams of fan girls everywhere.

Tyler skated towards him, firing another puck towards the back of the net with not as much force as previous.

“I heard about Riley,” Brad said, seriousness dripping in his voice.

The sparkle that flickered in Tyler’s eyes since stepping on the ice disappeared. He had wanted to leave to hospital to escape reality, not to come to rink and have it follow him.

He nodded, taking another puck firing it off towards the net.

“Segs. Candace texted me, everyone is worried about you.”

Tyler sighed, running his hand over his face wiping away the sweat that had been dripping down his skin.

“Listen dude. I’m sorry about everything that you’re dealing with, but you don’t need to shut the world out. We’re all rooting for you and Riley. She’s literally the only girl that you’ve dated that the whole team actually likes. And it’s the last thing we all want to see is you guys getting hurt. The Bruins we’re all a family, you have to let us in Tyler.”

Tyler had never seen Brad actually be serious. Brad was supposed to be one of those guys that he could have fun with, not another one that was suppose to watch over him.

“I know. It’s just some days I think she’s going to wake up, and this whole thing will be behind us, but then days like today you don’t see any improvement and I don’t know what to think anymore.”

Brad patted Tyler on the back as he fired another puck towards the other end of the ice.

“That’s what were here for. To get you through days when you think the worst.”

The rest of the team had filed onto the ice without them noticing. Tyler’s aching body had told him that maybe being there four hours before practice was overdoing it, and he shuffled off the ice to check his messages and catch a drink, before the real practice started.

He could hear his phone vibrating from the bench, and anxiously he reached for it tapping on a few buttons before realizing that his mother calling.

“Hello?” He spoke, voice shaky and nervous.

He hadn’t even had a second to look over the other messages she was sure to have sent to even know what she wanted.

“Tyler, sweetie. You need to get here right away. She’s awake,” Jackie breathed.

From the tone of her voice she had obviously been crying, and it took everything in Tyler to hold in his own tears. He didn’t even have to explain to his coaches what was going on before dashing out of the Garden, whipping off all his gear in the process.

XXX

Driving through the streets of Boston getting from the Garden to Mass General felt like a century. He had gotten a high-speed sports car, for the reasons of ditching all the traffic that the busy city held. But at the rate that traffic was going he was probably better off getting to the hospital on a bike.

Being less than a mile away, he pulled into the hospital parking lot, throwing his Maserati into park; tossing the keys at the valet that ran towards him.

Despite the fact that his legs and the rest of his body were aching he decided on taking the stairs knowing that it would’ve been a lot faster than waiting for the elevator.

“I’m here,” he breathed, taking long strides into her room.

He froze in his place, as almost everyone that had been there when he left was now surrounding her bed along side the four plus doctors that were examining her.

“Riley.”

His heart sunk as he watched her blink rapidly at the tears that were about to fall. He took a seat beside her on the small twin sized bed, as he had the sense of urgency to just hold her.

“I’m here,” he whispered repeating himself over and over again.

Her palm pressed into his cheek, feel the slight scruff that was growing from beneath her fingertips.

“Now Riley, we’re going to have to keep you here for a few more weeks. Just to make sure everything is running smoothly, and if all goes well you are more than welcome to go home.”

Tyler’s heart soared hearing the words coming out of Doctor Conway’s mouth.

“A few weeks?” Riley questioned, her voice dry.

The doctor nodded closing the clipboard he was examining. “Afraid so.”

“I’m going to miss playoffs,” she whined, taking a good look at Tyler for the first time since he walked in the room.

It had only been six days since she last saw him, and already she could see dramatic changes in his face, especially the deep dark circles that lined his eyes.

“Baby, it’s okay. We’ll take this one day at time.”

They both knew that the next few weeks would be a struggle, but if they had taken it one day at a time like they had from the beginning of their relationship then everything would finally be okay.

Notes

Thank you guys for everything! There is one more chapter up, and then I planned on writing a sequel but that probably won't be up until after this semester is over.

Stay Classy
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